Thursday, 5 February 2009

Play Misty For Me 1971

Eastwood plays David "Dave" Garver, a radio disc jockey who becomes the target of Evelyn Draper, an obsessed female fan, played by Jessica Walter. Donna Mills plays his re-acquainted girlfriend, Tobie Williams. The title comes from Draper's habit of phoning in to Garver's radio show and asking him to play the classic Erroll Garner ballad "Misty".

Below: How Play Misty for Me may have opened when seen in UK cinemas with its original X certificateTo view the Original Trailer Click Below:

Some Play Misty for Me material from around the worldBelow: Rare Japanese B2 posterBelow: A second design Japanese PosterBelow: Play Misty for Me Original Japanese Program, thank you to my friend Davy Triumph for the image

Below: A Very rare Universal Banner size 24x82, these are very hard to find today.Below: Play Misty for Me Full U.S. Lobby setBelow: A close up example of the U.S. Lobby cardBelow: The Play Misty for Me U.S. 1 Sheet posterBelow: Play Misty for Me French Poster

Below: Here's a great shot of Clint with Erroll Garner during the post production of the film Play Misty for Me

Below: A great shot of Don during the making of the movie, perhaps holding one of his famous pieces of paper that contained his lines. Clint has often spoke of how Don had them 'pasted everywhere' during several interviews, and remembers it fondly. It was Don's first acting role, and as it was Clint's first movie as director, Clint felt better about having Don on the set.

Below: Early U.S. VideoDisc from MCA Inc Rather strangely, Clint is not featured on the cover at all!

Below: Here's the U.S. Laserdisc (Full Screen) from Universal MCA and contained the original TrailerBelow: Play Misty for Me The Japanese version of the LaserdiscBelow: Example of a Yugoslavian Play Misty For Me press stillBelow: A great shot of Clint busy at work during the production of Play Misty for Me 1971.

Above: Clint directs one of his more 'static' co stars, Play Misty For Me 1971Original ReviewsPlay Misty for Me (1971)November 4, 1971PLAY MISTY FOR MEBy Roger Greenspun, New York TimesPublished: November 4, 1971

Director Clint Eastwood's first movie is the story of a California disk jockey (Eastwood) who one night meets Evelyn (Jessica Walter), a good-looking devoted listener who has always called to ask that he play Erroll Garner's "Misty" for her, and begins what is to be a short-term casual affair without complications.

But Evelyn has a personality quirk, a little violent streak that shows as obstinate possessiveness when she is happy and as homicidal mania when she is not. The disk jockey has a real girl (Donna Mills), and Evelyn's response to her is a one-woman reign of terror that threatens most of the circumstance and provides all the suspense of Play Misty for Me, which opened yesterday at neighborhood theaters.

Both the circumstance—the handsome bachelor, the minor glamour and attractive loneliness of the media people, the relaxed nights and entrancing days, the scenery and life style of the Monterey Peninsula—and the suspense recall other, better movies. And it is sad that this film, with its locale and some of its moods out of Vertigo and its central obsessional action almost an inversion of Preminger's wonderful Laura should echo so briefly in the imagination.

It is not simply that the movie fails to make sense. A lot of good movies are weak on sense—though they don't often require a leading man to be quite so dense for quite so long in interpreting the behavior of a psychotic leading woman. But they must not be weak in sensibility, in that logic of emotional response that is the real motive power of the atmospheric thriller.

Play Misty for Me begins to fail with its opening title sequence, Eastwood's scenic drive from an isolated shore-side retreat to his radio station in Carmel—where each shot in the long, lyrical montage seems to count for less than the one that preceded it, until the car simply comes to a stop in a confusion of place and time that a broadcast voice on the soundtrack has to clear up.

The failure is never redeemed, and it extends even to the character of Evelyn, who begins as mystery and loses a bit with each appearance until she ends as mere knife-wielding mechanism for plot that happens to need a girlish monster.

The movie goes down with her, and I think the fault lies with Clint Eastwood the director, who has made too many easy decisions about events, about the management of atmosphere, about the treatment of performances—including the rather inexpressive one of Clint Eastwood the actor, who is asked to bear more witness to a quality of inwardness than his better directors have yet had the temerity to ask of him.

His best director, Don Siegel, makes his film acting debut here as a bartender named Murphy. Siegel is pretty good, but he's no Murphy. He looks decidedly Greek.

PLAY MISTY FOR ME Directed by Clint Eastwood; written by Jo Heims and Dean Riesner, based on a story by Mr. Heims; director of photography, Bruce Surtees; edited by Carl Pingitore; music by Dee Barton; art designer, Alexander Golitzen; produced by Robert Daley; released by Universal Pictures.

Running time: 102 minutes.

Below: Some more great shots from Play Misty For Me

New article on Play Misty for Me by David Furtado

Back in May I helped David out with an article he was writing on Play Misty for Me. It was tied in to celebrate Clint's Birthday. In the process David used some photos that were new to me and he kindly allowed me to use them here.

From my friend Philip McLean, here is the great Japanese DVD of Play Misty For Me - Philip explains that the translation in Japan reads as 'Terrifying Melody' - Love it!

Play Misty for me Production history

Before Malpaso Productions co-founder Irving Leonard died,
he and Eastwood discussed a final film, one giving Eastwood the artistic
control he desired by making his directorial début. The film was Play Misty for
Me. Eastwood reflected on his new role:

"After seventeen years of bouncing my head against the
wall, hanging around sets, maybe influencing certain camera set-ups with my own
opinions, watching actors go through all kinds of hell without any help, and
working with both good directors and bad ones, I'm at the point where I'm ready
to make my own pictures. I stored away all the mistakes I made and saved up all
the good things I learned, and now I know enough to control my own projects and
get what I want out of actors."

The script was originally conceived by Jo Heims, a former
model and dancer turned secretary, and was polished by Dean Riesner. The idea
of another love interest, with a level-headed girlfriend Tobie added to the
plot, was a suggestion by Sonia Chernus, an editor who had been with Eastwood
when he was initially spotted for Rawhide. The film was also notable in that
Eastwood's character was in heavy contrast to the traditional "action
man" roles in westerns and war films which he was known for up until that
point - in later interviews he stated that the film was a deliberate attempt to
get away from typecasting.

The film paved the way for many later stalker films (such as
Fatal Attraction), particularly those with a psychotic female antagonist, and
also those where the villain made an unexpected return. The TV series Starsky
and Hutch copied almost the entire plot for their Season 3 story "Fatal
Charm".

The story-line was originally set in Los Angeles, but at
Eastwood's insistence, the film was shot in the more comfortable surroundings
of the actual Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where he could shoot scenes at the
local radio station, bars, and restaurants and at friends' houses. Eastwood has
also long made Carmel his home, and was elected mayor there in 1986.

Filming commenced in Monterey, California in September 1970,
and although this was Eastwood's debut as film director, Don Siegel stood by to
help and also had an acting role in the film as a bartender. Frequent
collaborators of Siegel's, such as cinematographer Bruce Surtees, editor Carl
Pingitore and composer Dee Barton, made up part of the filming team.

Additional scenes were shot at the Monterey Jazz Festival in
September 1970, featuring jazz greats Johnny Otis, Cannonball Adderley, and
future Weather Report founder Joe Zawinul. (The commentator mentions:
"That was the Cannonball Adderley group. They are playing at the Monterey
Jazz Festival with Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Joe Williams and many others.
Now we are gonna hear from 'The Gator Creek Organization' and 'Feeling
Fine'...".)

"The Sardine Factory" is a real restaurant, still
at the same location as in the film, at Prescott and Wave Street, just one
block up from Cannery Row in Monterey. The radio station, KRML, was an actual
jazz station in Carmel, whose studios were relocated to the Eastwood Building
at San Carlos and 5th, in the same building as the Hog's Breath Inn (a
restaurant that Eastwood owned). After a brief dark period in 2010, the radio
station returned to the air in 2011.

The rights to the song "Misty" were obtained after
Eastwood saw Erroll Garner perform at the Concord Music Festival in 1970.
Eastwood also paid $2,000 for the use of the song "The First Time Ever I
Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack. Meticulous planning and efficient
directorship by Eastwood (which would become one of his trademarks) enabled the
film to be made nearly $50,000 short of its $1 million budget, and it was
completed four or five days ahead of schedule.

The film features a romantic montage (views of Garver and
Tobie peacefully roaming by the seaside and through the woods), backed by
Flack's recording, an Ewan MacColl torch song. Flack's version (after staying
at Number 1 for six weeks during the spring) became the 1972 Billboard Hot 100
top single of the year. The film's title can be seen on a cinema marquee in the
beginning sequence of Siegel's later film starring Eastwood, Dirty Harry.

Below: Clint and Jessica Walter at the 1972 Golden Globe Awards, Walter's was nominated but lost out to Jane Fonda for her performance in Klute

Play Misty for Me premièred in October 1971 at the San
Francisco Film Festival and was widely released in November. The film was a
financial success, grossing $10.6 million at the box office against a budget of
only $725,000. It earned $5,413,000 in domestic rentals.

The film has been given mostly positive reviews, with an 83%
"fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In his 1971 review of the film,
Roger Ebert wrote, "Play Misty for
Me is not the artistic equal of Psycho, but in the business of collecting an
audience into the palm of its hand and then squeezing hard, it is
supreme." Critics such as Jay Cocks in Time, Andrew Sarris in the Village
Voice, and Archer Winsten in the New York Post all praised Eastwood's
directorial skills and the film, including his performance in the scenes with
Walter.

Below: A nice rare TV advertisement for Play Misty for Me

Below: Here's a great rare shot of Clint directing on the set of Play Misty for Me

Below: Clint in three costume test shots from Play Misty for Me

Below: Three great shots asEvelyn Draper attacks

Below: Clint and Donna Mills behind the camera, more commonly seen in a tighter shot

Below: I recently discovered this poster artwork and think it is possibly an example of fan art

Hello Merwin,What a great story! I always welcome these sort of stories, as they can provide an original and unique insight. Merwin is it possible you can contact me through the email address provided in my profile, it would be great to talk more on this.I am not home until next week, but please do get in touch.The Clint Eastwood Archive